Grand Canyon

This is a difficult movie to describe, as many plot threads weave their way through this story. However there are three significant events from which the rest of the story grows.

Mack (Kevin Kline) is almost mugged when he takes a wrong turn and breaks down in a gang-infested suburb. He is saved when a local tow truck driver, Simon (Danny Glover) arrives and convinces the gang members to leave them alone. To Simon the incident is all in a night's work, but to Mack it is something far more significant. He is determined to repay the kindness shown to him.

Claire (Mary McDonnell) is jogging through the suburban streets when she hears the cry of an abandoned baby. She returns home where she lovingly cares for the child. For Claire finding this child is a wonderful gift as her own son is now 15 and growing up fast. Claire is too old to have another child of her own and yet still yearns for the intimate relationship that a mother and young child share. Adoption is the only answer, but she knows that her husband, Mack, will not be keen on the idea of raising another child.

Davis (Steve Martin) is a successful producer of violent action films and a very wealthy man. He is suddenly confronted with real life violence when he is shot and badly wounded in a hold up.

"Thatís part of your problem. You havenít seen enough movies. All of lifeís riddles are answered in the movies."

This is an excellent example of a movie about the human condition. It explores the problems that modern relationships encounter under the pressure of big city living.

Grand Canyon was directed by Lawrence Kasdan, who is perhaps best known for The Big Chill but has other big ticket directing credits to his name such as Body Heat, Wyatt Earp and Silverado. His writing credits include Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Body Guard, The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi. For this particular movie he shares the writing credit with his wife Meg.

Video

Contract

The best way to describe this 16:9 enhanced transfer is pleasing.

It has a nice colour palette that is well balanced and natural looking. In terms of sharpness and detail this transfer is pretty good with many fine details visible. I doubt that anyone will be disappointed with it.

There are few MPEG artefacts worthy of note apart, from some minor examples of aliasing that could be seen on the usual culprits such as cars. Edge enhancement is used at times, but never reaches the really obvious stage.

Film artefacts can be seen from time to time, but are limited to very small flecks and unlikely to be noticed during normal viewing.

This is an RSDL disc with the layer change taking place at 68:48. The change is well placed as it occurs during a quiet moment.

Audio

Contract

This is a Dolby Digital 4.0 transfer meaning, that only the front channels are fully active, the rears receive the same information.

This is a pleasing transfer that is always easy to understand and contains no synch issues. As far as effects are concerned, the front channels do almost all of the work, with the rears only becoming active during limited scenes such as when there is gunfire or a helicopter flies overhead. Certain sounds are isolated in individual channels and do, on occasion, transition from one channel to the next.

Musically this soundtrack is a mixed bag, with both orchestral and electronic passages sharing the billing.

There is no low frequency signal in this transfer, but that didnít stop my receiver from directing some information to the subwoofer.

Featurette Ho hum, a pretty standard EPK that runs for a touch under six minutes. What we get is a bunch of scenes from the movie broken up by a few brief interview snippets from the cast and crew.

Overall

Contract

This is a really enjoyable movie for those that like to think a bit. It has a nice pace to it and features excellent performances from the main cast members. Yes, you could say that overall this movie is a bit on the ďniceĒ side and yes the final scene is a bit on the predictable side, but, well, I dunno, I still really liked it.